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Working on the Concord and Merrimack: Thoreau's Mills
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Pipkin, John S. |
| Copyright Year | 2004 |
| Abstract | In the 1830s the Concord River flowed from the village of the same name (the heartland of American Transcendentalism) to meet the Merrimack among the textile mills of Lowell (a principal hearth of the American industrial revolution). A trip along both rivers in 1839 resulted in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Henry David Thoreau's first and longest book. During the 23 years following the excursion, Thoreau made himself into a profound if selective landscape observer. Using the Week and the writings that followed, and in particular the Journal, this paper outlines several aspects of Thoreau's understanding of manufacturing including: clear insights into the effects of industry on the environment; a "Transcendentalist distaste" for industry; an enthusiasm and aptitude for mechanical invention; and a moralizing concept of work that privileges autonomy over any structural constraints. It is suggested that these radical, penetrating, and contradictory insights are all framed and limited by what we might term "moral localism." |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://msaag.aag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/4-Pipkin.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
